Pages of the Past: Soakers discuss Penny Hot Springs’ future

From the archives of the Roaring Fork Valley Journal, compiled by Lynn Burton

April 28, 1977

An ad hoc group called the Redstone Hot Springs Foundation scheduled a meeting at the Crystal Theatre to determine what, “if anything,” should be done with the Penny Hot Springs between Carbondale and Redstone. Locals, including Crystal River Valley resident Roy Rickus, created the foundation after an upstream property owner “buried” the mineral hot springs, located alongside Highway 133.

April 30, 1987

The Valley Journal reported that baseball player Chris Hanks, a freshman at the College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls, Idaho, was tearing up the league. In 27 games, the Roaring Fork High School alum had smacked 16 home runs and drive in 52 runs. Hanks, who stared in baseball and football at Roaring Fork High School, was drafted by the Boston Red Sox out of high school but opted for attending the two-year College of Southern Idaho instead.

May 1, 1997

Human skeletal remains, most likely those of a Native American Indian, were discovered at a residential construction site in Crystal Village. Workers first came across what turned out to be a skull fragment a few inches below the ground. The state brought in a pair of archaeologists to investigate. They dug down about 18 inches to find a “burial pit” lined with stones and also scattered bones. The archaeologists said the remains were mostly like more than 100 years old. They were taken to Colorado’s “virtually secret cemetery” for reburial for unidentified bones such as these.

April 26, 2007

The Carbondale Board of Trustees was slated to discuss the Crystal River Marketplace development proposal at its May 1 meeting. The most recent iteration of the proposal for a 24-acre site on the west side of Highway 133 called for two options: one with a “flex zone” that could include a mix of commercial and residential development, the other for a big-box anchor store such as Home Depot.